August 25, 2012: The arrest of an 11-year-old Christian girl on charges of blasphemy
has triggered international outrage, and calls for Pakistan to reform its controversial
blasphemy laws. Amnesty International led the charge on this count, urging Pakistan
to reform its blasphemy laws and protect Rimsha Masih, an 11-year-old reported to
have Down Syndrome, who was arrested for allegedly burning pages inscribed with verses
from the Holy Quran. She was taken into custody in a low-income area of Islamabad
on Thursday after a furious mob demanded she be punished.
Polly Truscott, Amnesty
International’s South Asia director, said the case showed the “erosion of the rule
of law” in Pakistan and the dangers faced by those accused of blasphemy. “Amnesty
International is extremely concerned for Rimsha’s safety. In the recent past, individuals
accused of blasphemy have been killed by members of the public,” Truscott said in
a statement issued late Tuesday.
Truscott welcomed President Asif Ali Zardari’s
move seeking an explanation for the arrest, but warned it would count for little unless
there were “greater efforts to reform the blasphemy laws to ensure they cannot be
used maliciously to settle disputes or enable private citizens to take matters into
their own hands.”
“The continued failure to reform these laws has effectively
sent the message that anyone can commit outrageous abuses and attempt to excuse them
as defense of religious sentiments,” Truscott said. Neighbours said Rimsha had burned
papers collected from a garbage pile for cooking in her family home and someone alerted
the local cleric after spotting the remains being thrown out as rubbish.
Joining
Amnesty International in its condemnation was the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
(HRCP). A statement released by the HRCP read: “The fact that the girl is a juvenile
and suffers from Down’s Syndrome only makes the charge more preposterous and barbaric.
It is also extremely disturbing to note that the police allowed a mob to surround
the police station and demand that she be handed over.”
The statement expressed
concern over the country’s political leadership being unwilling to speak out against
extremism and injustices towards non-Muslims. The authorities should immediately release
the girl, it added.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Christians in Mehrabadi village
(where the incident took place), fearing a backlash, have vacated their houses since
the incident on the advice of the Islamabad Police. “I had asked them to leave for
a safe place, otherwise they might have been burnt alive in their houses,” SHO Qasim
Niazi of Ramna police station admitted when contacted by The Express Tribune.
One
of the residents of the area requesting anonymity contacted The Express Tribune by
phone and disclosed that the landlords of Mehrabadi gathered in the main mosque after
prayers on Wednesday on the call of one Malik Munsif Dad, who told the landlords that
their Christian tenants should be forced to leave. “I opposed this decision, but it
was very difficult for me to swim against the water because they are in a majority,”
said the source. Some 25 Christian families returned to their houses in the village
at their own risk with the help of locals – but the majority remains reluctant to
go back and are waiting for assurances from the administration and the police of their
safety. “We can go back but what if we’re attacked again after a few days?” questioned
Surriya, who is living with her five children in her cousin’s house in Islamabad’s
G-7 sector.